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Florida mayors, businesses and anglers: We don’t want offshore oil drilling - With the bright white sands of Clearwater Beach dazzling behind them, a coalition of Florida mayors, business owners, anglers and environmental groups convened Friday morning to send the Trump administration a clear bipartisan message: Florida’s Gulf Coast is no place for offshore oil drilling. The group gathered just hours before a public comment period was set to close on the federal government’s new proposal to drill closer to Florida beaches.
Sales tax collections drive Florida’s revised budget estimates while corporate income projections fall - With economic uncertainty “elevated,” state economists Friday increased general-revenue tax projections that lawmakers will use in crafting a state budget for the upcoming year. A panel of economists known as the Revenue Estimating Conference added a combined $572.5 million to projections made in August for the current 2025-2026 fiscal year and the 2026-2027 fiscal year. That included increasing the 2025-2026 projection by $502.5 million and the 2026-2027 projection by $70 million.
Florida updates pot petition numbers, showing effort to get on November ballot still short of goal - Attributing the delay to scrutiny of potentially invalid petition signatures, the state Division of Elections on Thursday updated signature numbers on its website for a proposed recreational-marijuana constitutional amendment after being sued by backers of the initiative. The agency’s website showed that Smart & Safe Florida, the political committee behind the measure, had submitted 714,888 valid signatures as of Thursday — roughly 40,000 more than shown in the previous update two months ago but still far short of the 880,062 signatures needed for placement on the November ballot.
Florida poised to impose one-year freeze on H-1B hiring at state universities - Florida’s Board of Governors is expected to vote January 29 on a proposal that would bar the state’s 12 public universities from sponsoring any new H-1B visas for faculty, researchers or professional staff until early 2027. If adopted, the freeze would be the most sweeping state-level restriction on H-1B hiring in U.S. higher education.
New research may bring relief over pests threatening Florida strawberries
Florida's strawberry fields may look abundant at this time of year, but beneath those glossy leaves, a quiet battle is raging. As growers are hitting peak production, two long-established but relentless adversaries surge onto the scene: the twospotted spider mite and the chilli thrips. These pests can overwhelm plants in tandem, draining vigor, deforming fruit and leaving farmers with the possibility of losing more than half their crop.
Gov. DeSantis tightens Florida’s ties with Germany
German Ambassador to the U.S. Jens Hanefeld and Gov. Ron DeSantis have agreed to a Joint Declaration of Intent to increase cooperation between the European power and the Sunshine State, an agreement fostered by the June 2025 Florida Leadership Mission to Germany. The JDI, per the Governor’s Office, “establishes a practical framework for cooperation across key sectors including innovative technologies, aerospace and aviation, manufacturing, life sciences and workforce training.
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